BOX SCORE
 
PENSACOLA, Fla. – The No. 6-ranked University of West Florida women's tennis team defeated the NAIA No. 1-ranked Auburn Montgomery Warhawks 5-4 in the team's home opener on Tuesday afternoon. West Florida (5-0, 3-0 GSC) defeats the reigning NAIA National Champions after winning four of the six singles matches and one of the three doubles matches.
 
"Auburn Montgomery is a great team and every year it is a close match," head coach Derrick Racine said. "I thought we played very good doubles on every court. I thought our girls played very aggressive, we didn't tighten up and we went for our shots. It was just a good overall doubles match."
 
"Being down 1-2 heading into singles I think the girls knew we had an uphill battle ahead of us but we stayed strong. We were down a few first sets but came back. It was just a real battle on every court and I'm really pleased with the girls performance today."
 
Senior Nina Bubelova (Povazska Bystrica, Slovakia) and junior Paula Lopez (Tucumán, Argentina) improved to 4-0 on the year by defeating Paula Diaz and Anna Rudolfova 8-6 at number two doubles.
 
Junior Hannah Toro (London, England) and freshman Dianna Vlad (Oberhausen, Germany) fell to Alejandra Gil and Iris Verweij 7-9 at number one doubles while freshman Valeria Mantilla (Bogotá, Colombia) and senior Giovana Patitucci (Sao Paulo, Brazil) fell to Celine Lenertz and Kelly Southwood 6-8 at number three doubles.
 
Toro earned her first singles win for UWF by defeating the NAIA No. 11-ranked singles player Paula Diaz 6-3, 6-1 at number one singles. Lopez improved to 5-0 on the year by defeating the NAIA No. 20-ranked singles player Kelly Southwood 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 at number two singles.
 
No. 32 Katarina Dikosavljevic (Queensland, Australia) clinched the match at number three singles after coming back from a 0-5 deficit in the first set and a 1-4 deficit in the third set to defeated Verweij 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.
 
Freshman Heather Mixon (New Iberia, La./Catholic HS) improved to 4-0 on the year by defeating Anna Rudolfova 6-4, 6-0 at number six singles.
 
Vlad dropped her first match of the season to the NAIA No. 39-ranked singles player Celine Lenertz 3-6, 0-6 at number four singles while No. 42 Bubelova fell to the NAIA No. 44-ranked singles player Alejandra Gil 6-4, 5-7, 6-7 at number five singles.
 
West Florida will next play host to Gulf South Conference opponent Lee University on Saturday, February 20 at 10 a.m. CT at the Ralph "Skeeter" Carson Tennis Complex.
 
For information on all UWF athletics, visit www.GoArgos.com.